4 Ways to improve sleep quality

A large percentage of the UK population aren’t getting enough sleep, plain and simple. Poor quality of sleep can leave you feeling tired when you wake up, in a grumpy mood, struggling to focus, loss of appetite and also slowing down our rate of recovery following strenuous exercise routines.

There are some very simple ways to drastically improve sleep quality we are going to highlight them in this article.

TIMING

What time do you go to bed? This factor is important for two reasons. First, if you get in bed around the same time each night, it is easier for your body to develop good sleep cycles and naturally look to shut down for the night around the same time. Secondly, the more accurate your timing becomes the more energised you feel when you wake up, providing you’re getting in the recommended 6-8hrs a night.

DURATION

How much time do you spend sleeping each night? 6 hours? 8 hours? It can be easy to convince yourself that duration isn’t very important, but it is critical to your growth, performance, and recovery. Professional athletes often sleep over 10 hours per night to maximise recovery from very demanding training sessions. If you’re taxing your body and mind, then duration is crucial for you as well. The amount of sleep needed differs from person to person especially depending on age on training intensity. Studies how shown that 6-8hrs sleep to be very effective at helping the body recover effectively but the most important rule here is to ensure that if you are having 8hrs of sleep per night that you maintain 8hrs of sleep per night as having more or less will have a knock-on effect for your energy levels the next morning. Leaving you thinking you need more sleep.

INTENSITY

Unfortunately, we cannot directly control the different phases of sleep but we can combat some ways in order to improve this. There are a few different phases of sleep. Two of these phases are particularly important: Slow-wave sleep (also known as deep sleep) and REM sleep. The percentage of sleeping time you spend in these two phases largely determines the quality of your sleep each night. Things like eating large meals before bed, consuming stimulants like caffeine within 6hrs of sleep and falling asleep with the TV on can all drastically slow down the process of obtaining REM sleep as REM sleep is achieved after 90-120 minutes after initially falling asleep.

TNT 5-HTP

5-hydroxytryptophan, or 5-HTP for short, is a chemical that the body makes from the dietary amino acid Tryptophan and is essential for the synthesis of serotonin and melatonin which affects mood, sleep, and appetite. 5-HTP is produced commercially from the seeds of the Griffonia Simplicifolia and is best taken in capsule form to help with better quality of sleep, enhanced mood, and appetite control on a daily basis.

5-HTP is an excellent sleep aid which, as this is when your body repairs itself and recovers from exercise, is important to anyone who trains regularly. The deepest part of our sleep cycle is called REM, during this time muscles are virtually 100% relaxed which leads to better recovery and feelings of alertness on waking. Studies have shown that 5-HTP can cause a massive increase in the duration of REM sleep from 5% of the entire cycle to a HUGE 53% Furthermore, it has been shown to reduce the time required to get to sleep, reduce the number of times you wake up at night, increase the total duration of sleep, and generally improve the overall quality of sleep.